Anant Utsav 2026: Pandavani festival at Delhi's Sunder Nursery, November 13-15

Anant Utsav 2026, a three-day festival of folk and tribal performance and traditional crafts organised by SPIC MACAY with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, opens at Sunder Nursery in New Delhi on Friday, 13 November 2026 and runs until Sunday, 15 November. This second edition is dedicated to Pandavani, Chhattisgarh's tradition of epic storytelling, with a special tribute to Pandavani legend Teejan Bai. Organisers list nine folk and tribal performances, 11 traditional crafts and more than 100 artists and craftspeople.

Pandavani is Chhattisgarh's tradition of epic storytelling, in which a performer narrates and sings episodes of the Mahabharata, the epic of the Pandava brothers. It is a living oral form, carried by performers rather than books, and festivals in big cities are one of the few places where urban audiences can see it in person. A festival built around Pandavani gives performers a stage and an audience, and introduces a living tradition to people who may know the Mahabharata only from print and screen.

The festival's format pairs performance with craft. Alongside the evening shows, its daytime workshops put visitors in front of craftspeople working in 11 traditional crafts, so the event is as much about watching how things are made as about watching a stage. That mix reflects SPIC MACAY's aim of bringing Indian heritage to young people, and the choice of Sunder Nursery, a heritage garden next to Humayun's Tomb, gives the performances a historic setting.

The tribute to Teejan Bai places a senior artist at the centre of this year's edition. Tributes of this kind matter in oral traditions, where skills pass from one performer to the next and the reputation of leading artists draws new learners to the form.

What to do if you plan to go: check SPIC MACAY's official channels for the day-wise programme and any entry details, arrive early for the evening performances, and use the workshop hours to meet the craftspeople directly.

Peepals calculation: With more than 100 artists and craftspeople over three days, the festival averages more than 33 participants a day (100 ÷ 3 ≈ 33), and its nine performances work out to three a day (9 ÷ 3 = 3). The listed workshop hours of 11 am to 7 pm come to eight hours a day, and the performance hours of 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm to four. Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: Delhi audiences get three days of folk and tribal performances and craft workshops, and participating artists get a city stage and buyers for their work.

Long-term: Regular festivals of this kind help keep oral and craft traditions in front of younger audiences, which supporters see as essential to passing them on.

Who is affected: Pandavani performers and folk artists, craftspeople, students and families in Delhi, and heritage organisations working to sustain traditional arts.

What to watch next: The festival runs until Sunday, 15 November 2026 at Sunder Nursery.

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